I have to say I was a bit iffy about Imfuna's home inspection HITs moving over to SpeechInk, especially when I saw they were going up individually instead of in batches. BUT I have to say I looove the glossary! I have no issue with British spelling, I have been using it for 5 years at my main WAH job but with the brands some of them I was always googling to make sure of spelling etc. It's SO nice to have the glossary right there now.
SpeechInk was doing the exact same HITs while Imfuna was. One night I did a bunch for SpeechInk and found the same HITs over at the other place. Was nice because I already had an "ear" for the speaker -- which is usually my biggest downfall. I did a few yesterday. I wish they did batches, not individual HITs.
A trick I found is to install the UK English dictionary in Firefox and use that for spellchecking. Amusingly, when I took the test to qualify for for the Home Inspection HITs, the test dinged me because I used the UK spelling "grey", which it corrected to "gray", which is the American spelling.:
Good idea! I think my problem as a reviewer comes in when they are brand names that are wrong. How easy can it be? The list is right there. I even look if I have a question. Like I said, I hate giving a bad review / correcting an original work. But if it's wrong, it's wrong. I'm an American and have no problem with the difference in dialect. I love British humor (thank you, Red Dwarf and Douglas Adams). If there's any question as to being able to understand, it's best to return the hit. I still can't imagine what a mixer tap is, especially in relation to a bidet. Imagine my surprise when I came across the brand, Smeg!
So I heard but I never saw any of SpeechInk's home inspection HITs even doing a search for 'home inspection'. Up until a few days ago I never saw a SpeechInk HIT I was qualified for.
Some advice for these HITs. UK English. It's complicated (that's why the Americans simplified it). Colour, discolour, discolouration! The measurement is spelt METRE but the equipment that measures your electricity usage is a METER. Confusing, I know. SI style guide tells you to use ";" after a list, Whomever is reviewing my HITs today, sorry, but you are an IDIOT and should not be working these jobs. You have edited in errors to most of my HITs today and I have reviewed yours and knocked you down for your errors (you keep forgetting to type the word "door" for example). Use a ; only where items appear in a list which RELATE to the text after which you put ";". For example: White ceramic white seat and lid, chrome flush handle, light discolouration. (Which was my original but YOU put a ";" after "lid"). The list has to relate to the initial item. A toilet seat does not have a chrome flush! Also, brand names start with capital letter. Grammar 101. You are ruining my rating with your utter ignorance! Also, when the audio is blank, you do not submit a HIT with "blank" in the transcription box, you send a note that the audio is blank and you RETURN THE HIT. If you keep trying to get paid for no work you will ruin this gig for the rest of us. Yes, it is me giving you big fat 0s for trying to cheat a few cents out of SpeechInk. I hope to heck you are reading this forum. Oh, and here's another thing that is annoying the hell out of me. Very VERY few of these audios could be classified as anything other than EASY. If you are trying to screw more bonus out of SI by kidding on they were Medium or Hard when they blatantly are not you will, again, spoil the gig for us honest ones. Please stop it.
I'm not doing any transcribes while there is an IDIOT doing the jobs. My rating has gone from 100 to 97 because of your IGNORANCE. I am going to review the shit out of you.
This is the one that keeps getting me!! LOL English class was a looong time ago, I don't think I have ever used ';' in my life that I recall so this darn semicolon keeps throwing me off.
As far as I know, their specified use of ";" does not follow grammar rules. Really, a : makes more sense, to my mind. But the client has obviously specified that ; is used to denote a list. For example: White ceramic sink; chrome taps, chrome plughole, slightly dirty, requires cleaning. A list that directly relates to the initial item. I would guess it has something to do with how the software handles the text to report end of things.
That is what I thought as well. When I first looked over the 'how to' tab I kept thinking why is this not a :? That has gotten me a couple of 95s or 96s because I throw in a : without thinking about it, have to get used to using a ; there when I normally never would lol
How in the world do they come up with these? I had one today that was clearly, "hall" they put "hole". I'm not sure how the door opens into the hole.
LOL Yes I had an emotion one too. And someone who appears to be allergic to typing the word "door". I've had at least 4 with a door missing!
See, I wouldn't see it as trying to cheat anyone. SpeechInk has been paid to transcribe everything and a confirmation that the tiny bit of audio is blank would be beneficial, in my opinion. Once it's marked as such, it doesn't go back into the "working pool", so to speak. And I know what they're paying for those things - I don't see it as a scam. It would be even better if they would just give you a box to [check] noting No Audio & get paid for it. That's just my view though. Their load times make me unhappy and now I don't blame it on my computer.
...and if you continue to call them idiots, they may not come here for help. And you'd be a great resource for help on these HITs. If they did better, your ratings would stay high because things wouldn't be done incorrectly. Just a thought...
Yes, I am so rude. Sorry for my rant I'd be happy to help the people who need it because the better they understand these HITs the better all our ratings will be! The loading times are a pain when lots of people are working the HITs but if you get some at a quieter time of day (like my early morning when most US folks are likely asleep) they can fly by. I personally never submit a blank audio HIT, I would feel downright bad about it, earning money for nothing as it were. Why should the client pay for blank audio? I post a feedback and return it. I think they do need a "this is blank" button so the hit can be submitted without risking being at fault.
I understand a bad day, I really do. You've seen my rants over in the CW threads. Maddening, I tell ya (other people). Why have the client pay for blank audio? Because they've hired a company to transcribe it all. I did not feel one bit guilty yesterday when I came across a couple CW jobs where there were only about 50 words spoken in about 2 minutes. I've come across other HITs where there's no audio (30 seconds or less clip) and just put in [no audio], get my 9 and get my bonus. I'm being paid to do the work for someone else. The editor will likely confirm that there's no audio, but when that 30 second clip goes back to the 30-70 minute file -- it's been taken care of. These companies are probably charging their clients anywhere from $1-4/audio minute. My view is to get your $0.15-.45/audio minute. The client still gets charged for that area that is blank/silent/pause. Now, if we were paid by word or by line, my view would be different. I'd be annoyed to come across blank audio. I feel your frustration, I really do. I would take so much stinkin time with SpeechInk - even having a British English dictionary up to spell check every single time (faster than referencing the different rules, for me). To have a complete working knowledge of it and to be marked down for doing things correctly - I'd be pretty pissed, like you. Has SpeechInk ever been good at communicating with you? I didn't have much luck when I worked with them and now I'm spoiled by CW. The thing that really confuses me is that to edit those jobs - don't you have to have a high rating for those types of HITs? I got lucky one night and bumped mine up to 99 but I have absolutely no confidence in my ability to edit the ones done by others. It would take me too long (not familiar enough with spellings, which words are brands, etc.). I know my limits for the speed required to feel like it's worth it.